Re: Start-up event

From: Stephen Naicken <stephennaicken_at_gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 20:57:40 +0000

Hello Vincent,

On 25 February 2016 at 15:37, vincent pollet <vincent_at_pongosoft.com> wrote:

> Hi SM
>
> After thinking twice, I think I would like to be a panelist instead of
> organizer.
>
> I have a lot to say about startups ecosystem :)
>

Sounds good. I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress over the
next few months.

​I have a few questions about starting a startup in Mauritius that I would
like to throw out there. I'm not expecting answers from you or anyone
else, but maybe it will help in some way. Perhaps for future events or
perhaps for those who might be thinking of becoming a founder.

What mechanisms exist for someone with an idea to find the right people to
be co-founders? Is it easy for a technical founder to find a co-founder who
has complementing skills e.g. a technical founder connecting with someone
who has business expertise.

How do/should startups go about hiring technical talent? If I need to hire
security or UX experts, is that talent available? If not, are graduates
able to 'level up' their skills quickly? Are there schemes for startups to
quickly employ foreign talent if local talent is unavailable?

Lots of people don't want to start a startup, but I think some of them
could act as mentors to founders, especially with the incentive of being
given equity. What path is there for those people to connect and to advise?

I've read many different things about funding, some of it contradictory.
How can startups acquire funding and what percentage of equity would a
startup be approximately expected to give up at the seed stage? Do I need a
prototype or must the company be profitable? How important is the business
plan (it sometimes seems to me to be as accurate as plucking numbers out of
the sky)?

The less glamourous side of startups can be fights over the shareholder
agreements (equity, restrictive covenants, etc) and the direction of the
company. How should Mauritian founders address these issues without
destroying their relationships? Given the culture, is a different approach
needed to those used elsewhere?

​These are just some of the issues I've mulled over and I hope they can be
of use to others.
Received on Thu Feb 25 2016 - 20:58:38 PST